Africa-Press – South-Africa. Deputy President David Mabuza says the ANC knows who their military veterans are, after smoking out bogus MK veterans who were just five-years-old during apartheid.
On Thursday, Mabuza answered questions in the National Assembly. One of the questions Mabuza responded to was about government interventions to address the plight of military veterans.
“The military veterans who were demobilised were not recognised. Their respective political formations know these cadres. They know them. In the case of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) they [the ANC] know them. We don’t want to assume that it is why we opened this process so that they can come and be verified and be registered formally to access benefits,” Mabuza told MPs.
Bogus MK veterans, who were just 5 years old during apartheid, smoked out as verification kicks into gear
The ANC’s process to verify military veterans across the country unmasked some people whose ages were inconsistent with any track record that they were part of the movement during apartheid.
Part of the ANC’s process was to check a person’s documents received on return to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC and verified recollections of incidents and events.
Mabuza said the government’s process was to verify as many veterans as possible.
“As much as we know them, we don’t want to be conclusive. That is why we have set up this task team to verify them. Going forward, we want to be certain that we are serving the right people. We want military veterans to enjoy their pensions, whether statutory or non-statutory veterans.
“Right from the onset, when the task team was appointed by the president, the first problem that was encountered was the shortcomings of the Department of Military Veterans. There were many vacancies, and the capacity was not up to scratch,” he said.
In October last year, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise, her deputy Thabang Makwetla and Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele were taken hostage by disgruntled military veterans.
At least 56 people were arrested after the police’s Special Task Force Unit intervened.
The military veterans demanded to be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Meanwhile, Mabuza said the military veterans department faced several organisational challenges.
“I think military veterans deserve to be supported by their government because of the role they played in the development of the country. There are basic things that must be given to military veterans. They must have a pension, whether those are recognised as statutory forces, former defence forces, but we must also know that there are those like the MK,” he said.
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Being a registered military veteran opened the door for access to state-sponsored benefits for housing and an allowance.
While not all military veterans receive government support, Mabuza said disparities between non-statutory and statutory veterans must be corrected.
“Their case should be supported. They need subsidised transport because of their age. That is going to happen. If we fail to look after our military veterans, we will be failing as a country. We are currently costing the military veterans Bill to look at the affordability of all the proposals that we want to incorporate into the Bill,” he said.
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